URBAN TACTICS

URBAN TACTICS; A Frightened Child Versus a Rule

By SETH KUGEL

Published: March 2, 2003

KATE Woolverton, 4, was home with the baby sitter when the first plane hit on Sept. 11, 2001. Her mother, Karolyn, called frantically and urged the baby sitter to stay put with Kate. But Ms. Woolverton didn't quite make it back before the first tower fell.

Kate, who has light brown hair and is tall for her age, was terrified. Ash and smoke began to seep through open windows and under the door of the family's town house, which is part of Hudson Tower, a Battery Park City condominium just two blocks from the trade center. Barefoot, Kate and the sitter fled west to the Hudson River, where they were helped onto a police boat and taken to New Jersey.

But Ms. Woolverton did not know that. Mother and daughter were separated until the evening. The next morning, when Fred Woolverton saw his daughter for the first time since the attack, he was shocked.

Kate was found to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and an element of the recommended therapy was Scout, a butterscotch Yorkshire terrier the Woolvertons brought home from Ms. Woolverton's parents in Arkansas a few months after the attack.

Now that dog stands at the center of a bitter dispute that is pitting the family against the board of the condo, which has a strict no-pet rule.

The family plans to move back to the condominium in early April, but the condo board is opposing the return. To add to the complexity of the situation, Mr. Woolverton is on the seven-member board.

By most accounts, Dominic Tortorice, the board's longtime president, has done a good job of running the complex, which a few years ago was rated one of the top 10 buildings in New York by the Cooperator, a local publication. But, as Mr. Woolverton sees it, nothing is more sacred to Mr. Tortorice than the no-pet policy. When Mr. Woolverton sought to join the board, he recalled, the issue of pets was the litmus test. And in fact, he agrees with the policy; his argument is that Scout is not a pet but what is sometimes called an emotional support animal.

Reached in his office in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, Mr. Tortorice said, ''I have nothing to say,'' and hung up. Calls to the building's managers, RY Management, were not returned.

But Herbert Cohen, the board's lawyer, said in a statement that Mr. Woolverton had in the past voted against allowing a dog into the premises. ''Apparently, however,'' the statement added, Mr. Woolverton ''is now seeking to have his family treated differently than any other resident by seeking to carve out a narrow exception'' on behalf of his daughter. He has ''failed to present a cogent legal argument as to why his family's self-interest should take precedence over the interest of the rest of Hudson Tower.''

The complex has 133 units, most of which are in the main tower. But the Woolvertons lived in one of six town houses that have direct street access, so the dog would not have to enter through the common lobby.

For the past year, Kate has gone through a complicated regimen that includes not only therapy and the presence of the dog but also gymnastics classes to help her overcome fear. In addition, as prescribed by Kate's therapist, whose name the family would not disclose, the Woolvertons have been moving closer and closer to ground zero. They are now in their third temporary apartment. The move back home would be the final one, and the Woolvertons, both of whom are psychologists, expect to see an increase in symptoms in their daughter, who suffers from clinginess, fear of death and sleep problems.

Using animals to help children deal with post-traumatic stress is not considered mainstream treatment. As several therapists describe the approach, the animal does not simply comfort the child but functions as a surrogate to help the child express difficult emotions.

The animal may also help the child express certain needs. Mr. Woolverton cited the time a fuse blew in a building they occupied on West 13th Street. For Kate, the power failure apparently set off memories of the attack. But this time she petted the dog, saying, ''Everything's O.K., the building is not going to fall.''

The family has discussed the case with representatives of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Because no complaint has been filed, the department would not comment specifically on the matter. But Adam Glantz, an agency spokesman, said that the federal Fair Housing Act mandates that reasonable accommodations be made for people with disabilities, a category that can include post-traumatic stress syndrome, as long as sufficient documentation is provided by health care professionals.

Officials cited a case from 1994 in which an administrative law judge allowed Beatrice Exelberth, a 67-year-old Co-op City widow who was suffering from depression, to keep her Yorkshire terrier as an emotional support animal, despite Co-op City's no-pet policy. The agency has dealt with several hundred similar cases since then.